Celebrating Sister Joan Schaefer

Sister Joan Schaefer
August 14, 1933 – April 18, 2023

Sister Joan Schaefer ministered in Ghana from 1977 to 1995 and again from 2009 to 2012. Her initial ministry was as a teacher at St. Martin’s Secondary School in Nsawam. After three years as a teacher, she became the administrative assistant at the SVD Catholic Conference Centre in Nsawam for six years.

Following these years in Nsawam, sister moved to Sunyani when the Dallas Province accepted Sunyani Bishop James Owusu’s invitation to begin a secondary school for girls. While waiting for the details to be worked out and the structures to be put in place, she taught for one year at St. James Secondary School in Sunyani.

Sister Joan, along with Sisters Dorothy Ann Balsar, Mary Busson and Marie Therese Nowakowski and Brothers Joseph (Joe) Contessi, OFM and Pius Agyeman, SVD and a few lay teachers began Notre Dame Secondary School in 1987 in renovated buildings behind Christ the King Cathedral. There were 35 in the first group of “graduates.”

After five years, Sister Joan moved back to Nsawam serving as a therapist at Orthopedic Training Centre for two years. At the end of this assignment, sister returned to the Dallas Province serving in Chatawa, Mississippi.

When Sister Mary Kerber became the fourth and last district leader, she invited Sister Joan to consider returning to Ghana as district secretary. Sister Joan accepted the invitation and returned to Ghana from 2009-2012.

Sister Joan was known for her ready, engaging smile when she encountered others and seemed to always participate in kind conversation. She was a woman of faith, prayer and of love for her God, SSND, family and friends.

On May 9, 2023, the day Sister Joan had her Mass of Resurrection in Covington, Louisiana and burial in Chatawa, Mississippi, a tree was planted at the Provincial House, Ghana, in honor of Sister Joan and all SSND who have “stepped foot” in Africa.

Please visit "Remembering Sister Joan Schaefer" webpage on the School Sisters of Notre Dame Central Pacific Province website. An obituary and funeral Mass video are available.